Australian tunnel rescue expert Arnold Dix, famous for leading the successful 2023 Silkyara tunnel evacuation in India, has officially joined the massive emergency search operations in flood-hit Nepal.
Professor Dix arrived in the country to provide technical advice and field leadership for teams trying to locate and reach workers trapped deep underground.
THE NEPAL RESCUE OPERATION
Dix is collaborating directly with Indian andNepali joint technical teams at the Chilime hydropower tunnel near the Bhotekoshi River.
Rescuers are desperately working to clear debris, slush, and thick mud to reach an underground powerhouse where missing workers are believed to have taken refuge, say reports.
Unlike the 2023 Uttarakhand incident, which focused on a single collapsed tunnel entrance, Nepal is facing a multi-site crisis. Describing it as the toughest test of his career, Dix noted that while the structures themselves are mostly intact, catastrophic destruction of the outside environment has left multiple independent rescue operations running concurrently under extremely poor access conditions.
The operation has reunited Dix with familiar figures from the Silkyara rescue, including Colonel Parikshit Mehra, who is leading the Indian Army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) deployment on the ground.
The joint operation is currently establishingrope connectivityto bring in more personnel while clearing manual pathways through heavy debris. Drawing from his past success, Dix remains optimistic, famously stating that his experience has taught him “never to confuse unlikely with impossible”.
7 September 2026 Nepal
Right now, in Nepal, we are facing something I have never faced before.
Not one rescue — but multiple potential rescues, unfolding at the same time, in different places, each with its own dangers, uncertainties and lives that may still be saved.
It has… pic.twitter.com/atrKZxu1JH
— Arnold Dix Prof (@Arnolddix) September 7, 2026
THE CHILIME RESCUE OP: WHY IS IT TOUGH?
The rescue operation at the Chilime Hydropower tunnel in Nepal’s Rasuwa district is extraordinarily tough due to severe geographical, structural, and technical challenges. The primary obstacle is the massive accumulation of thick, liquid sludge and heavy rocks pushed into the 250-meter-long tunnel by flash floods, which rises all the way to the ceiling at the entrance and creates chest-deep mud traps further inside. Because heavy machinery could not initially reach the site, a joint rescue team of Nepali and Indian military personnel had to clear this debris manually using shovels and basic tools, making progress painstakingly slow, say experts.
Compounding the problem, the surrounding infrastructure was completely obliterated, meaning the roads and bridges leading to the project were washed away. Rescuers had to construct an entirely new access road from Syabrubesi just to bring a single excavator to the tunnel portal, while smaller equipment and generators had to be airlifted piece by piece using small helicopters capable of navigating the mountainous terrain. Even with machines on-site, the operation remains highly dangerous because the altered terrain and structural damage pose a constant risk of tunnel collapses.
Bad weather further limits working hours, but specialized teams continue to use high-capacity mud pumps and safety-rope connections to drain the sludge, racing against time to reach potential air pockets in the underground powerhouse.
Nepal – 3A – First Power station Tunnel Worker is saved via emergency tunnel ❤️❤️❤️
Many People – One Wold
❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/D4KzVtq5iR
— Arnold Dix Prof (@Arnolddix) September 4, 2026
SILKYARA & NEPAL RESCUE OPS: THE SIMILARITIES
The primary connection is Arnold Dix himself, acting as the lead technical advisor and structural expert for both high-stakes operations. The operation features the exact same tactical leadership. Colonel Parikshit Mehra, who coordinated the engineering feats at Silkyara, is on the ground in Nepal heading the Indian technical deployment.
In both disasters, the rescue strategy relies on the existence of “survivable pockets”. At Silkyara, workers survived in a spacious, stable buffer zone of the tunnel.
In Nepal, teams are tunneling toward an underground powerhouse chamber where they believe trapped workers retreated to find air, water, and shelter.
Both incidents occurred in the notoriously unstable and steep terrain of the Himalayan mountain range — Uttarakhand in India vs. the Rasuwa district near the China-Nepal border.
Just like at Silkyara, the rugged geography has severely restricted heavy machinery. Rescuers in Nepal are dealing with destroyed bridges and roads, meaning heavy helicopters cannot land, forcing crews to rely heavily on manual excavation, safety ropes, and light machinery to break through debris.
